Story of Guan-yin The Goddess Of Mercy-佛門網 ：開啟佛教大門 ...[www.absolutechinatours.com/...of-Guanyin-in-China.html - Cached]

In Chinese folk legend, Guanyin(Chinese: 观音; pinyin: Guānyīn) literally means "observing the sounds" (Guanyin, commonly known in English as the Goddess of Mercy, would always observe all the sounds of the earth; boast great mercy and compassion to the ordinary persons; help the needy and relieve the distressed), who was born on the nineteenth of the second lunar month, achieved enlightenment on the nineteenth of the sixth lunar month and achieved nirvana on the nineteenth of the ninth lunar month.

It is generally accepted that Guanyin originated as the Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara from India, which is her male form, whose image has remolded according to people’s own understanding and wishes around China. Guanyin was originally male and dwelled on an Indian Mountain. When he came to China, he gradually became a female and was called “Goddess Guanyin”. In Buddhist scriptures, Guanyin has vast magic powers and is capable of saving people by listening to their voices and liberating them from sufferings. As a result, people contribute their piety to Guanyin. However, most of them are concerned with their practical benefits and expect Guanyin, whose image precisely meets such psychology, to assist solving their present problems instead of waiting to get salvation after death, which can be considered as the common characteristics of religious beliefs among the Chinese.

Representation of Guanyin in China The images of Guanyin are diversified in different regions of China. She has been often depicted as a beautiful lady, including Thousand Armed Guanyin（千手观音）, Children-Sending Guanyin（送子观音Guanyin appears as an image of holding a child on one of her arms）, and so on. Another frequent image of Guanyin is that she usually holds a lotus blossom or a willow twig.

CHINESE CARVED JADE GUANYIN FIGURE

Famous Guanyin in China Guanyin is enshrined from the Potala Palace (布达拉宫, Budala Gong) of Tibet in the West to Putuo Mountain（普陀山， Pu Tuo Shan） of Zhejiang Province in the East Sea (Potala and Putuo are all named after the pronunciation of the dwelling of Guanyin).

Guanyin Statue in Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

One famous story about the show-up of Guanyin（观音现身）dates back to Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wenzong(唐文宗, 827~840A.D.). It is known that the capital of Tang Dynasty is Chang’an(Xi’an nowadays), a great city in the west of China, a city that turns its face to the empires of Inner Asia. Emperor Wenzong has a special hobby of eating clams, ordered clams for three of his five meals, each and every day. However, based on the geographic position of Xian, it was a great barrier to bring clams from the sea to the imperial palace. Such a delicacy the emperor ate was through the bitter labors of thousands. To ensure the freshness of the clams, every day in the dim light before dawn, clams would be gathered by the ocean fishermen of Zhejiang and then packed by porters in cold seaweed, wet sand and ice, then rapidly loaded on relay mounts that sped the Imperial highway. Obviously, it is a great sacrifice of the labors only to please the emperor’s eating preference.

Day after day, the laborers suffered a lot from the process of hard work; many of them are living in misery, until one incident shocked the entire palace. One day, the Royal chef discovered an unusual clam in grand size. The clam was enormous-twenty times the usual shell,-surely an imperial clam meant for the Imperial Palate. As the Clam Shell Opener stepped up to pry the shell apart, however, he found the shell sealed like iron; the clam was as tight as a rock crevice on the slope of Mount Tai.

Emperor Wenzong heard about this and commanded the opener to let him take a closer look. All of a sudden, as if by signal, the clam began to open automatically. The emperor gasped at what he saw. There, standing inside, was a finely detailed, miniature, astonishingly sweet statue of the Goddess of Mercy, the Bodhisattva Guanyin, exquisitely carved. What surprised him most is what Guanyin said by her lovely expression, “The laborers have to make great efforts for your own pleasure; both harass the people and waste money”. Then the Emperor realized that Guanyin –the Buddhist Goddess-who hears even the smallest call for mercy from even the tiniest voice in the empire-had taken pity on the boat men, the fisher folk, the portage men and relay riders, even the royal cooks-all who served his royal taste and royal whim. He realized that the purpose that Guanyin show up in the grand clam is to warn him; she would watch over mankind in times of fear and danger. (Partly Refer to "In the Realm of the Gods: Lands, Myths, and Legends of China").

Many years after Shancai (Sudhana) became a disciple of Guanyin, a distressing event happened in the South China Sea. The son of one of the Dragon Kings (a ruler-god of the sea) was caught by a fisherman while taking the form of a fish. Being stuck on land, he was unable to transform back into his dragon form. His father, despite being a mighty Dragon King, was unable to do anything while his son was on land. Distressed, the son called out to all of Heaven and Earth.

Hearing this cry, Guanyin quickly sent Shancai to recover the fish and gave him all the money she had. The fish at this point was about to be sold in the market. It was causing quite a stir as it was alive hours after being caught. This drew a much larger crowd than usual at the market. Many people decided that this prodigious situation meant that eating the fish would grant them immortality, and so all present wanted to buy the fish. Soon a bidding war started, and Shancai was easily outbid.

Shancai begged the fish seller to spare the life of the fish. The crowd, now angry at someone so daring, was about to pry him away from the fish when Guanyin projected her voice from far away, saying "A life should definitely belong to one who tries to save it, not one who tries to take it."

The crowd, realising their shameful actions and desire, dispersed. Shancai brought the fish back to Guanyin, who promptly returned it to the sea. There the fish transformed back to a dragon and returned home. Paintings of Guanyin today sometimes portray her holding a fish basket, which represents the aforementioned tale.

But the story does not end there. As a reward for Guanyin saving his son, the Dragon King sent his granddaughter, a girl called Longnü ("dragon girl"), to present Guanyin with the Pearl of Light. The Pearl of Light was a precious jewel owned by the Dragon King that constantly shone. Longnü, overwhelmed by the presence of Guanyin, asked to be her disciple so that she might study the dharma. Guanyin accepted her offer with just one request: that Longnü be the new owner of the Pearl of Light.

In popular iconography, Longnü and Shancai are often seen alongside Guanyin as two children. Longnü is seen either holding a bowl or an ingot, which represents the Pearl of Light, whereas Shancai is seen with palms joined and knees slightly bent to show that he was once crippled.

1. *The Chinese Lunar 9th Month is a double month in 2014. The major celebrations are normally observed in the first of the double month.

2. Note that centre/temple/monastery may not follow exactly as above in observing the commemorations due to reasons of:a. bringing forward or deferring the date/day of the celebrationb. the reason for a. is normally for the convenience of the centre/temple/monastery and devotees.E.g The second of the tri annual celebration falls on a Tuesday, a weekday. Hence, the centre/temple/monastery may bring forward the date/day of the celebration to say the weekend before Tuesday, either Saturday or Sunday, where most devotees are available and abundant.

3. There are other East Asian Mahayana traditions (e.g the Koreans and Vietnamese) that observe these commemorations as well but you may have to check with those communities to ascertain their liturgical calendar.

This short story is so cute...with a beautiful picture of carved red coral Guanyin with the cage of filial parrot..I wish I could buy this statue in Houston...Last time I saw only green jade Guanyin ..may be 8" tall..and I saw many small Universal Jade Buddha statues too..but the big white Buddha is the most beautiful in the shop.

Guanyin and the Filial Parrot[Wikipedia]

The Precious Scroll of the Parrot (Chinese: 鸚鴿寶撰; pinyin: Yīnggē Bǎozhuàn) tells the story of a parrot who becomes a disciple of Guanyin. During the Tang Dynasty a small parrot ventures out to search for its mother's favourite food upon which it is captured by a poacher (parrots were quite popular during the Tang Dynasty). When it managed to escape it found out that its mother had already died. The parrot grieved for its mother and provides her with a proper funeral. It then sets out to become a disciple of Guanyin.

In popular iconography, the parrot is coloured white and usually seen hovering to the right side of Guanyin with either a pearl or a prayer bead clasped in its beak. The parrot becomes a symbol of filial piety.

************Dear Plwk...thanks for the information about the Guanyin tidathep

tidathep wrote:About your question...I don't know any story of Guanyin with a turtle..nope. But if any member does...please post it..I would love to read very much.

The Tibetans use an analogy of a turtle that I believe comes from the Pali scriptures. They say that having a human life where you have the opportunity to practice Dharma is as rare as the chances of a blind turtle surfacing once every hundred years and then sticking its neck through a life-preserver type yoke that is floating somewhere on the ocean.

Sorry to disappoint you about a good Kwan Yin story. I love them too. One of my favorite books is "Bodhisattva of Compassion" by Blofeld. It is a collection of wonderful stories about Kwan Yin all arranged around the question of how "real" she is. It is delightful reading. If you like her stories, you must read it.

A human being has his limits. And thus, in every conceivable way, with every possible means, he tries to make the teaching enter into his own limits. ChNN

smcj wrote:The Tibetans use an analogy of a turtle that I believe comes from the Pali scriptures. They say that having a human life where you have the opportunity to practice Dharma is as rare as the chances of a blind turtle surfacing once every hundred years and then sticking its neck through a life-preserver type yoke that is floating somewhere on the ocean.

smcj wrote:Sorry to disappoint you about a good Kwan Yin story. I love them too. One of my favorite books is "Bodhisattva of Compassion" by Blofeld. It is a collection of wonderful stories about Kwan Yin all arranged around the question of how "real" she is. It is delightful reading. If you like her stories, you must read it.

Chiggala Sutta: And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"----------Thanks for this Sutta...Yes the Buddha said that to be born as a human-being is very hard.....BUT, I read many Dhammapada/Jataka stories PLUS Thera Mun/Thera Bua's preaching that ....People who observe 5 Precepts everyday, 8 Precepts on Uposatha days, faithfully/wholeheartedly will never be born in animal realm/Unhappy World.

tidathep wrote:Chiggala Sutta: And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"----------Thanks for this Sutta...Yes the Buddha said that to be born as a human-being is very hard.....BUT, I read many Dhammapada/Jataka stories PLUS Thera Mun/Thera Bua's preaching that ....People who observe 5 Precepts everyday, 8 Precepts on Uposatha days, faithfully/wholeheartedly will never be born in animal realm/Unhappy World.

I love Guanyin stories..I'll try to find more....

The way the Tibetans use it, the blind sea turtle analogy is for the precious human rebirth, not just a human rebirth. If you go through the criteria for it, you come to the conclusion that your/our present circumstances are the most perfect of all possible scenarios for Dharma practice. You could say that Pure Land practice aspires to get one reborn here! So simply avoiding a lower rebirth is not the same as having the precious human rebirth.

Sorry. That's probably really annoying nit-picking to some members, but it's one of my bugaboos.

A human being has his limits. And thus, in every conceivable way, with every possible means, he tries to make the teaching enter into his own limits. ChNN

yes living in the lay 5 vow's creates continually the causes for human rebirth.

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….